In this section:
- Check you're paying the right tax
- How to correct mistakes in your tax
- Tax when starting, leaving or retiring from work
- Reporting changes that might affect your tax
How to correct mistakes in your tax
If you think you've paid the wrong amount of Income Tax, or made a mistake on your Self Assessment tax return, let us know as soon as possible. It's usually quite easy to put things right by following a few simple steps.
On this page:
- Why you could have paid too much or too little tax
- Paid too much tax through your employment or company pension
- Paid too much tax after filling in a Self Assessment tax return
- Owed tax back on savings or investment income
- If you've paid too little tax
- More useful links
Why you could have paid too much or too little tax
You might have paid the wrong amount of tax because:
- your employer used the wrong tax code
- you had an emergency tax code
- you only worked for part of the year
- you had more than one job at the same time
- you didn't tell us about benefits you got through your work
- your circumstances changed - perhaps you were made redundant
- you're self-employed
- you've got other income like investments or rental income
- you made a mistake on your tax return
- you're on a low income but you paid tax on your savings
- we made a mistake with your tax
All of these things and more can mean you pay too much or too little tax.
Paid too much tax through your employment or company pension
You can claim back the extra tax. We call any money we pay back a 'repayment'.
Claiming refunds for the current tax year
Tell your Tax Office why you think you've paid too much. If we need more information, we'll tell you what paperwork to send.
You might get a new tax code, meaning any refund will be added to your wages or pension.
Claiming refunds for previous tax years
You can claim a refund up to 31 January five years after the end of the tax year (5 April) in which the overpayment was made. For example, a claim for the tax year 2003-04 which ended on 5 April 2003 must be made by 31 January 2010.
You'll need to write to your Tax Office to get any refund due. Include paperwork about your earnings in the tax year you're claiming for, like:
- pay slips
- forms P60 and P45
- details of your employment - including any employee benefits you got
We'll work out how much tax you're owed and send you a repayment in the post or by bank transfer.
Find out how to claim if you've overpaid tax through your job
Find out how to claim if you've overpaid tax through your pension
Get information about claiming a repayment if you stop work
Paid too much tax after filling in a Self Assessment tax return
There are two ways of claiming a refund, depending on the tax year you're claiming for.
Claiming for the last tax year
If you've made a mistake on your tax return, you've got 12 months from the return deadline to correct it. This is called an 'amendment'.
Write to your Tax Office, telling us what corrections to make to which boxes on the return.
Claiming for previous tax years
You must normally do this no later than five years after 31 January following the end of the tax year (5 April) you're claiming for. But if we've made a mistake you can get extra time.
If you didn't fill in a tax return for the year in question, write to your Tax Office and tell us why you're claiming. If you did fill one in, write to us and ask to claim 'error or mistake relief'.
Read about corrections or repayment claims
Owed tax back on savings or investment income
Tax is automatically taken off the interest on your savings and income from life annuities at the rate of:
- 20 per cent for bank and building society savings
- 22 per cent for annuities
If you're on a low income, you may be able to get back some or all of the tax you've paid. You'll have to fill in a claim form.
You must claim it back up to 31 January five years after the end of the tax year (5 April) in which the overpayment was made. For example, a claim for the tax year 2003-04 which ended on 5 April 2003 must be made by 31 January 2010.
Check how to get tax-free savings interest and claim tax back
If you've paid too little tax
This is called an 'underpayment'. We'll usually write to you and explain why it's happened and how we'll collect the extra tax you owe. You may have to pay some interest on the tax too.
Underpayments of less than £2,000
We'll normally give you a new tax code and we'll ask you to pay back the tax you owe in one year.
If you want to you can pay it back straight away in one lump sum. This is called a 'voluntary payment'. Call the telephone number on the letter you got from us and ask for a payslip.
Find out more about underpayments in your tax code
Underpayments of £2,000 or more
We'll ask you to pay the money within one month or by 31 January following the end of the tax year you've underpaid - whichever is later.
Fill in the payslip we sent you with our letter and send it back with your payment. Sometimes we'll arrange for you to pay the tax back through the Self Assessment system.
If you can't afford to pay the money you owe
Write to the Tax Office that asked you for the payment and tell us why you can't afford to pay. You'll have to give us rough figures for your income, spending, savings and other assets. We may let you spread the payments over more than one year.
How to correct 'over-repayments'
If you claimed a refund and we've paid you back too much it's called an 'over-repayment'. If this happens we'll write to you explaining why and how we'll collect the money back.
Find out about tax return corrections and refunds
More useful links
Read about the new penalties you may get if your tax return is inaccurate
